There have been a few posts in the past with ArenaNet saying they were looking for a good way to tell the past Living Story to new players. One thing that was suggested was a historian, but I’ve had an idea that might tie in more with an actual ‘living world’.
The idea is basically: rumors.
Rather than having the story being told at fixed locations by fixed dialogue, why not implement a system where any npc duo has a chance to randomly discuss something that happened in the Living Story? Something like:
“Remember that Charr that walked through town the other day?”
“You mean the one with the baby devourer following her?”
“Yeah. Heard she went off to fight some dragon in Sparkfly Fen or something.”
“What I’ve heard is that she’s gone back to the Black Citadel. Never learned if she was actually succesful.”
But better written of course. The idea is that all npc duos in the game get their texts from the same source, and randomly share these lore hints as ‘conversation’. Not only would this gradually inform players of the happenings in the game, but it would also make the world feel more alive because it gives the impression that news travels. Another example could be:
“Ever been to Divinity’s Reach?”
“The human capital? No I haven’t.”
“I was there during Queen’s Jubilee. They had some fancy watchwork knights that ended up thrashing the place.”
“Sounds terrible. I hope they punished the person responsible?”
“Last I heard they punished a minstrel and his golem, though if you ask me that sylvari Scarlet was the real cause.”
And so on. All of the comments are generic enough that they could be voiced anywhere, or at least in every major city. The main issue I can see with this is that voice acting would need to be done for each possible npc race/gender, but I don’t think the players would mind it much if most of it were text based only.
So what do you think?
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